What is culture? Systems of people, places, and practices

Culture is a fuzzy concept without fixed boundaries, meaning different things according to situations. To address this issue, I introduce ap-modelto understand culture as a system of people, places, and practices, for a purpose such as enacting, justifying, or resisting power.Peoplerefers to population dynamics, social relations, and culture in groups.Placesrefers to ecological dynamics, institutional influences, and culture in contexts.Practicesrefers to participatory dynamics, community engagement, and culture in action. Power refers to forcing others into compliance (power-over people), controlling access to spaces (power in places), and behaving as desired (power-to practice). I use racism to illustrate thep-model and suggest applications in theory, research, and practice in developmental sciences.